East-West Shrine Bowl Canceled: What that means for 2021 NFL Draft Prospects?

By Justin VanFulpen

Yesterday the East-West Shrine Bowl canceled their 2021 all-star game, because of Covid-19 concerns. 

The annual college football all-star game, the oldest event of its kind which goes back to 1925 was scheduled to be played on January 23 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.  From last season’s game there is 98 players on NFL rosters who played on it. 

Because of this there will be one less post-season all-star game for prospects to go to and there is rumors that the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl will not be played either.  The Senior Bowl has said they are still planning on going forward with their event, but it will be something to watch.

All-Star games are especially important for prospects in many ways – Here are some:

1. Small School or Non-Power 5 prospects get to show NFL scouts that they can play against the best level of competition.
2. NFL Scouts get to see the prospects go one-on-one and can use this as particularly good evaluation tool.  
3. NFL Scouts get true measurements (Height/Weight) on a prospect if were allowed to get the spring before Senior season.
4. NFL Scouts get more time to interview and interact with prospect to help with the overall evaluation.

Countless amount of prospects have raised their draft stock at all-star games or even landed on NFL scouts’ radar at an All-Star event, so it is an especially important part of the process that this year could not be happing. 

This could be another factor why some prospects use the NCAA extra year of eligibility and plan to be in the 2022 NFL Draft not the 2021 NFL Draft cycle.